The proliferation of stun guns among law enforcement, security forces and facilities for holding large animals throughout the world, has caused an unanticipated problem. Stun guns, such as the Taser® gun, work by shooting barbed darts into the subject. These darts are connected to thin wires, through which a series electric pulses is passed to pacify the subject.
After the subject has been subdued, it is necessary for a responding professional to remove the dart(s) from the subject. This is typically done by holding the subject down with one hand, while removing the dart with the other. Unfortunately, during this operation the subject may suddenly move in an effort to gain freedom. This, in turn, may throw the responding professional off balance to the point that he inadvertently jabs the barbed end of the newly removed dart into the hand used to stabilize the body part that had received the dart.
Far from being a minor, temporary injury, this brief event may have a life-long and tragically life-shortening effect on the responding professional, who may contract hepatitis, HIV or any one out of a long list of blood born pathogens from blood on the dart. This very occurrence has become all too common, with thousands of people all infected with a deadly virus through this mechanism or a related cause, such as an intra venous needle stick. Some way must be found to make the removal of stun gun darts safer for the personnel who must remove them from the subjects.